True,' admitted Collan, 'but as soon as he kills them the City Watch will take him. And I have only four more days to spend here; then I sail for the Free Trading ports. However, I take it you have some advice to offer?'
'Indeed I do. Get the woman back from Kabuchek and deliver her to Druss. Buy her or steal her - but do it, Collan.' With a short, perfunctory bow the Ventrian officer left the room.
'I'd listen to him if I were you,' advised Borcha.
'Not you as well!' stormed Collan. 'By the gods, did he scramble your brains tonight? You and I both know what keeps us at the top of this filthy pile. Fear. Awe. Sometimes sheer terror. Where would my reputation be if I gave back a stolen woman?'
'You are quite right,' said Borcha, rising, 'but a reputation can be rebuilt. A life is something else. He said he'd tear off your head and he's a man who could do just that.'
'I never thought to see you running scared, my friend. I thought you were impervious to fear.'
Borcha smiled. 'I am strong, Collan. I use my reputation because it makes it easier to win but I don't live it. If I were to be in the path of a charging bull, then I would step aside, or turn and run, or climb a tree. A strong man should always know his limitations.'
'Well, he's helped you know yours, my friend,' said Collan, with a sneer.
Borcha smiled and shook his head. He left Collan's house and wandered through the northern streets. They were wider here, and lined with trees. Officers of the Watch marched by him, the captain saluting as he recognised the champion.
Former champion, thought Borcha. Now it was Grassin who would win the accolades.
Until next year. 'I'll be back,' whispered Borcha. 'I have to. It is all I have.'
*
Sieben floated to consciousness through layers of dreams. He was drifting on a blue lake, yet his body was dry; he was standing on an island of flowers, but could not feel the earth beneath his feet; he was lying on a satin bed, beside a statue of marble. At his touch she became flesh, but remained cold.
He opened his eyes and the dreams whispered away from his memory. Druss was still asleep. Sieben rose from the chair and stretched his back, then he gazed down on the sleeping warrior.
The stitches on Druss's brows were tight and puckered, dried blood had stained both eyelids and his nose was swollen and discoloured. Yet despite the wounds his face radiated strength and Sieben felt chilled by the almost inhuman power of the youth.
Druss groaned and opened his eyes.
'How are you feeling this morning?' asked the poet.
'Like a horse galloped over my face,' answered Druss, rolling from the bed and pouring himself a goblet of water. Someone tapped at the door.
Sieben rose from his chair and drew a knife from its sheath. 'Who is it?'
'It is me, sir,' came the voice of the tavern-maid. "There is a man to see you; he is downstairs.'
Sieben opened the door and the maid curtsied. 'Do you know him?' asked Sieben.
'He is the Ventrian gentleman who was here last night, sir.'
'Is he alone?'
'Yes, sir.'
'Send him up,' ordered Sieben. While they were waiting he told Druss about the men who had come searching for them the night before.
'You should have woken me,' said Druss.
'I thought we could do without a scene of carnage,' Sieben replied.
Bodasen entered and immediately crossed to where Druss stood by the window. He leaned in and examined the stitches on the axeman's eyebrows. "They've held well,' said Bodasen, with a smile.
'What news?' asked Druss.
The Ventrian removed his black cloak and draped it over a chair. 'Last night Collan had men scouring the city for you. Assassins. But today he has come to his senses. This morning he sent a man to me with a message for you. He has decided to return your wife to you.'
'Good. When and where.'
"There is a quay about a half-mile west of here. He will meet you there tonight, one hour after dusk, and he will have Rowena with him. But he is a worried man, Druss; he doesn't want to die.'
'I'll not kill him,' promised Druss.
'He wants you to come alone - and unarmed.'
'Madness!' stormed Sieben. 'Does he think he is dealing with fools?'
'Whatever else he may be,' said Bodasen, 'he is still a Drenai noble. His word must be accepted.'
'Not by me,' hissed Sieben. 'He is a murdering renegade who has become rich by dealing in the misery of others. Drenai noble indeed!'
'I'll go,' said Druss. 'What other choices are there?'
'It is a trap, Druss. There is no honour in men like Collan. He'll be there, right enough - with a dozen or so killers.'
'They won't stop me,' insisted the axeman, his pale eyes gleaming.
'A knife through the throat can stop anyone.'
Bodasen stepped forward and laid his hand on Druss's shoulder. 'Collan assured me this was an honest trade. I would not have brought this message had I believed it to be false.'
Druss nodded and smiled. 'I believe you,' he said.
'How did you find us?' enquired Sieben.
'This is where you said you would be,' answered Bodasen.
'Exactly where will this meeting take place?' asked Druss. Bodasen gave directions and then bade them farewell.
When he had left Sieben turned on the young axeman. 'You truly believe him?'
'Of course. He is a Ventrian gentleman. My father told me they are the world's worst traders because they have a hatred of lies and deceit. They are reared that way.'
'Collan isn't a Ventrian,' Sieben pointed out.
'No,' agreed Druss, his expression grim. 'No, he is not. He is everything you described. And you are quite right, poet. It will be a trap.'
'And yet you will still go?'
'As I have already said, there are no other choices. But you don't have to be there. You owe Shadak - not me.'
Sieben smiled. 'You are quite right, old horse. So how shall we play this little game?'
*
An hour before dusk Collan sat in an upper room overlooking the quay. The bearded Kotis stood beside him. 'Is everyone in place?' asked the Drenai swordsman.
'Aye. Two crossbowmen, and six knife-fighters. Is Borcha coming?'
Collan's handsome face darkened. 'No.'
'He would make a difference,' observed Kotis.
'Why?' snapped Collan. 'He's already taken one beating from the peasant!'
'You really think he will come alone and unarmed?'
'Bodasen believes he will.'
'Gods, what a fool!'
Collan laughed. 'The world is full of fools, Kotis. That is how we grow rich.' He leaned out of the window and gazed down on the quayside. Several whores were lounging in doorways, and two beggars were accosting passers-by. A drunken dock-worker staggered from a tavern, collided with a wall and slid to the ground by a mooring post. He tried to rise, but as he lifted his work-sack he fell back, and then curled up on the stone and went to sleep. What a city, thought Collan! What a wonderful city. A whore moved to the sleeping man and dipped her fingers expertly into his money-pouch.
Collan stepped back from the window and drew his sabre. Taking a whetstone, he sharpened the edge. He had no intention of facing the peasant, but a man could never be too careful.
Kotis poured a goblet of cheap wine. 'Don't drink too much of that,' warned Collan. 'Even unarmed, the man can fight.'
'He won't fight so well with a crossbow bolt through the heart.'
Collan sat down in a padded leather chair and stretched out his long legs. 'In a few days we'll be rich, Kotis. Ventrian gold -enough to fill this squalid room. Then we'll sail to Naashan and buy a palace. Maybe more than one.'
'You think the pirates will aid Ventria?' asked Kotis.
'No, they've already taken Naashanite gold. Ventria is finished.'
'Then we keep Bodasen's money?'
'Of course. As I said, the world is full of fools. You know, I used to be one of them. I had drea
ms, I wasted half my life on them. Chivalry, gallantry. My father fed me the concepts until my mind was awash with dreams of knighthood and I truly believed it all.' Collan chuckled. 'Incredible! But I learnt the error of my ways. I become wise to the way of the world.'
'You are in good humour today,' observed Kotis.
'You'll have to kill Bodasen too. He won't be pleased when he learns he's been tricked.'
'Him I'll fight,' said Collan. 'Ventrians! A pox on them! They think they're better than everyone else. Bodasen more than most; he thinks he's a swordsman. We'll see. I'll cut him a piece at a time, a nick here and a slash there. He'll suffer well enough. I'll break his pride before I kill him.'
'He may be better than you,' ventured Kotis.
'No one is better than me, with sabre or short blade.'
'They say Shadak is one of the best who ever lived.'
'Shadak is an old man!' stormed Collan, surging to his feet, 'and even at his best he could not have faced me.'
Kotis paled and began to stammer out an apology. 'Be silent!' snapped Collan. 'Get outside and check that the men are in position.'
As Kotis backed from the room, Collan poured himself a goblet of wine and sat down by the window. Shadak! Always Shadak. What was it about the man that inspired men to revere him? What had he ever done? Shema's balls, I've killed twice as many swordsmen as the old man! But do they sing songs about Collan? No. .
One day I'll hunt him out, he promised himself. Somewhere in public view, where men can see the great Shadak humbled. He glanced out of the window. The sun was setting, turning the sea to fire.
Soon the peasant would arrive. Soon the enjoyment would begin.
*
Druss approached the quayside. There was a ship moored at the far end; dock-workers were untying the mooring ropes and hurling them to the decks, while aloft sailors were unfurling the great square of the main-mast. Gulls swooped above the vessel, their wings silver in the moonlight.
The young warrior glanced along the quayside, which was almost deserted save for two whores and a sleeping man. He scanned the buildings, but all the windows were closed. He could taste fear in his mouth, not for his own safety but for Rowena's should Collan kill him. A life of slavery beckoned for her, and Druss could not bear that.
The wounds above his eyes were stinging, and a dull, thudding headache reminded him of the bout with Borcha. He hawked and spat, then made for the quay. From the shadows to his right a man moved.
'Druss!' came a low voice. He stopped and turned his head to see Old Thorn standing just inside the mouth of a dark alleyway.
'What do you want?' asked Druss.
'They're waiting for you, lad. There's nine of them. Go back!'
'I cannot. They have my wife.'
'Damn you, boy, you're going to die.'
'We'll see.'
'Listen to me. Two have crossbows. Keep close to the wall on the right. The bowmen are in upper rooms; they'll not be able to sight their weapons if you keep to the wall.'
'I'll do that,' said Druss. 'Thank you, old man.'
Thorn faded back into the shadows and was gone. Drawing in a deep breath, Druss moved on to the quay. Above and ahead of him he saw a window open. Altering his line, he moved in towards the walls of the moonlit buildings.
'Where are you, Collan?' he shouted.
Armed men moved out of the shadows and he saw the tall, handsome figure of Collan among them. Druss walked forward. 'Where is my wife?' he called.
'That's the beauty of it,' answered Collan, pointing at the ship. 'She's on board - sold to the merchant Kapuchek, who is even now sailing for his home in Ventria. Maybe she will even see you die!'
'In your dreams!' snarled Druss as he charged the waiting men. Behind them the drunken dock-worker suddenly rose, two knives in his hands. One blade flashed by Collan's head, burying itself to the hilt in Kotis's neck.
A dagger swept towards Druss's belly, but he brushed the attacker's arm aside and delivered a bone-crunching blow to the man's chin, spinning him into the path of the warriors behind him. A knife plunged into Druss's back. Twisting, he grabbed the wielder by the throat and groin and hurled him into the remaining men.
Sieben pulled Snaga from the work-sack and threw it through the air. Druss caught the weapon smoothly. Moonlight glittered from the terrible blades and the attackers scattered and ran.
Druss ran towards the ship, which was gliding slowly away from the quayside.
'Rowena!' he yelled. Something struck him in the back and he staggered, then fell to his knees. He saw Sieben run forward. The poet's arm went back, then swept down. Druss half turned to see a crossbowman outlined against a window-frame; the man dropped his bow, then tumbled from the window with a knife embedded in his eye.
Sieben knelt alongside Druss. 'Lie still,' he said. 'You've a bolt in your back!'
'Get away from me!' shouted Druss, levering himself to his feet. 'Rowena!'
He stumbled forward but the ship was moving away from the quay more swiftly now, the wind catching the sail. Druss could feel blood from his wounds streaming down his back and pooling above his belt. A terrible lethargy swept over him and he fell again.
Sieben came alongside. 'We must get you to a surgeon,' he heard Sieben say. Then the poet's voice receded away from him, and a great roaring filled his ears. Straining his eyes, he saw the ship angle towards the east, the great sail filling.
'Rowena!' he shouted. 'Rowena!' The stone of the quay was cold against his face, and the distant cries of the gulls mocked his anguish. Pain flowed through him as he struggled to rise. . ...
And fell from the edge of the world.
*
Collan raced along the quay, then glanced back. He saw the giant warrior down, his companion kneeling beside him. Halting his flight, he sat down on a mooring-post to recover his breath. It was unbelievable! Unarmed, the giant had attacked armed men, scattering them. Borcha was right. The charging bull analogy had been very perceptive. Tomorrow Collan would move to a hiding place in the south of the city and then, as Borcha had advised, seek out the old woman. That was the answer. Pay her to cast a spell, or send a demon, or supply poison. Anything.
Collan rose - and saw a dark figure standing in the moon shadows by the wall. The man was watching him. 'What are you staring at?' he said.
The shadowy figure moved towards him, moonlight bathing his face. He wore a tunic shirt of soft black leather, and two short swords were scabbarded at his hips. His hair was black and long, and tied in a pony-tail. 'Do I know you?' asked Collan.
'You will, renegade,' said the man, drawing his right-hand sword.
'You've chosen the wrong man to rob,' Collan told him. His sabre came up and he slashed the air to left and right, loosening his wrist.
'I'm not here to rob you, Collan,' said the man, advancing. 'I'm here to kill you.'
Collan waited until his opponent was within a few paces and then he leapt forward, lunging his sabre towards the man's chest. There was a clash of steel as their blades met. Collan's sabre was parried and a lightning riposte swept at the swordsman's throat. Collan jumped back, the point of the sword missing his eye by less than an inch. 'You are swift, my friend. I underestimated you.'
'It happens,' said the man.
Collan attacked again, this time with a series of sweeps and thrusts aiming for neck and belly. Their blades glittered in the moonlight and all around them windows were opened as the discordant clashing of steel echoed along the quay. Whores leaned out over the window-sills, yelling encouragement; beggars appeared from alleyways; a nearby tavern emptied and a crowd gathered in a large circle around the duelling men. Collan was enjoying himself. His attacks were forcing his opponent back, and he had now taken the measure of the man. The stranger was fast and lithe, cool under pressure; but he was no longer young and Collan could sense he was tiring. At first he had made several counter-attacks, but these were fewer now as he desperately fended off the younger man's blade. Collan feinted a cut, then roll
ed, his wrist lunging forward on to his right foot. The stranger blocked too late, the point of the sabre piercing the man's left shoulder. Collan leapt back, his blade sliding clear. 'Almost time to die, old man,' said Collan.
'Yes. How does it feel?' countered his opponent. Collan laughed. 'You have nerve, I'll say that for you. Before I kill you, will you tell me why you are hunting me? A wronged wife, perhaps? A despoiled daughter? Or are you a hired assassin?'
'I am Shadak,' said the man.
Collan grinned. 'So the night is not a total waste.' He glanced at the crowd. 'The great Shadak!' he said, his voice rising. 'This is the famed hunter, the mighty swordsman. See him bleed? Well, my friends, you can tell your children how you saw him die! How Collan slew the man of legend.'
He advanced on the waiting Shadak, then raised his sabre in a mock salute. 'I have enjoyed this duel, old man,' he said, 'but now it is time to end it.' Even as he spoke he leapt, sending a fast reverse cut towards Shadak's right side. As his opponent parried Collan rolled his wrist, the sabre rolling over the blocking blade and sweeping up towards Shadak's unprotected neck. It was the classic killing stroke, and one Collan had employed many times, but Shadak swayed to his left, the sabre cutting into his right shoulder. Collan felt a searing pain in his belly and glanced down. Horrified, he saw Shadak's sword jutting there.
'Burn in Hell!' hissed Shadak, wrenching the blade clear. Collan screamed and fell to his knees, his sabre clattering against the stones of the quay. He could feel his heart hammering and agony, red-hot acid pain, scorched through him. He cried out: 'Help me!'
The crowd was silent now. Collan fell face down on the stones. 'I can't be dying,' he thought. 'Not me. Not Collan.'
The pain receded, replaced by a soothing warmth that stole across his tortured mind. He opened his eyes and could see his sabre glinting on the stones just ahead. He reached out for it, his fingers touching the hilt.